Prologue to my Star Wars versus Halo campaign
by Disciple of Shai-Hulud
Summary: There are a hundred different threats out there that would freeze your blood if you knew about them." - Kres'ten'tarthi Stent . What if the Vong were not the only extra-galactical threat to the galaxy?
1. Chapter 1

_A/N: Let it be known that, yes, I am a Halo fan, and that I am also a Star Wars fan. While I may enjoy playing Halo and reading the books, there are just too many reasons to indicate that the Halo universe is just not developed enough to even begin to compare to Star Wars EU._

_The question that people ask, whether elements from Halo can beat Star Wars, is ludicrous. One shouldn't even need to speculate on whether SW can kick Halo in the 'nads. The question is how badly SW would destroy Halo._

In the stillness of space, an Imperial Star Destroyer drifted alone, its large superstructure with its multiple weapons systems, for now, idle.

"Captain, our probes have picked up more of those strange readings somewhere on the far side of the Lehon system," a lieutenant said. "From what our analysts could understand, they seem to be strange gravitic anomalies that appear before knocking out our sensor probes." "And what of visual images, lieutenant? Were our probes able to capture a glimpse of the source of these anomalies?" asked Pellaeon. "Yes, Captain. However the image was distorted by the energy flux created by the anomalies. Our tech engineers are working on scrubbing the image right now but they appear doubtful whether they can get a clear visual on the aliens from it."

Captain Pellaeon quietly considered this finding. Lately, more and more sightings of unknown alien ships have been occurring in this sector. Attempts at communication have been repeatedly rebuffed and Imperial speculation has been leaning toward the idea that this may be a new hostile race that they have yet to deal with. The only good news here is that, as far as Imperial Intelligence is concerned, Coruscant is in no way affiliated with these beings. Whether they can use this knowledge to their advantage is yet to be determined. For now, though, Pellaeon decided to bring this report to the Grand Admiral's attention.

Passing through Thrawn's _security clearance_ was always an uncomfortable experience – not to mention tedious and irritating – but today, Pellaeon opted to ignore the Noghri as much as possible so as to pass the experience more quickly.

"Ah, Captain. More news on the alien sightings, I presume?" Admiral Thrawn inferred. "And what have our nomadic friends been up to recently?"

"It appears, Admiral that the aliens have been slowly advancing inward the sector. The latest sighting was confirmed by one of our sensor stations near the uninhabited planet of Rakata." Pellaeon frowned as he considered this.

"Your thoughts, Captain?" Thrawn inquired. "Admiral, I've reviewed the records of this system. During the Jedi Civil War, it was the site of a major battle between the Old Republic and the Sith Empire. More than that, it was the site of an ancient super weapon the Sith Empire salvaged from a long dead race. Is there any chance that these aliens have knowledge of that super weapon and are looking for it right now? And if so, for what purpose?"

Thrawn raised an eyebrow. "Very good, Captain. Those were my very first assumptions, too, once I noticed the direction of this species' ventures. However, I suspect that these..._visitors_...are simply an advance scouting party, quietly inspecting our defenses before they send the main body of their force in. Perhaps they are members from an outreaching empire from a distant galaxy? One of many questions we will have to ask them once we've made contact." Pellaeon nodded at the response, noting the conviction in the Grand Admiral's voice. "So what is our course of action, Admiral?" he asked carefully. Thrawn swiveled his seat, turning to face him. "I've already arranged a courier party to await the arrival of the alien scout ship near Lehon. If the aliens respond with hostility at our courier's presence, an attack force is standing nearby, ready to assist."

Thrawn keyed for the instrument panel in his command chair. Around them, a holograph of the Lehon system alighted, marking the orbit of Rakata Prime and its two moons. "Come, Captain. See the progress of the Planet Rakata. I always found it a shame that the Old Republic never managed to secure certain artifacts from that species' culture. It would have been a pleasure to incorporate them into my study." Thrawn's red eyes flashed at the thought. "We find ourselves with a conundrum, Captain. Given no previous knowledge of this alien species, we have no idea how their culture thinks. If we manage communications with them we are at risk of committing several cultural indignities in our negotiations. And if they _don't_ accept communications with us and commence with an attack we have no way of predicting how they will react to our battle tactics."

_Thrawn hid it well_, the Captain thought. The Grand Admiral may not show it but Pellaeon was sure the apprehension was there. Normally, before Thrawn faced an opponent he would spend countless hours studying them, studying their species' art, divining the deepest mindsets his enemies have and drawing weaknesses there that he could exploit. This time, Thrawn had none of those resources to examine, nothing to give him an insight into this alien psyche to give him an advantage.

"Admiral, what role will the _Chimaera_ be playing in this exploit?" Pellaeon had to ask. Thrawn hadn't mentioned yet whether they would just be watching the events unfold or if they would be taking an active part in the negotiations. Those glowing red eyes seemed to spark at the question. "Why Captain, we will be directing the reinforcement group in case our attempt at talks ends up in failure. But for now, we wait. Judging from the progress of our mysterious friends, it won't be in several hours before we make contact."

***

It happened like clockwork, as Thrawn's plans always were. At the precise moment when Thrawn predicted the alien species to appear the courier ship began to pick up gravity fluctuations somewhere by the sunside surface of Rakata Prime.

"Our shuttle is moving to intercept the alien scout ships now, Admiral. Escort frigates our moving to safeguard point around our courier ship," the communications officer announced. "Do we have visual, lieutenant?" Captain Pellaeon asked from beside the bridge command chair. "Yes, sir. Feed coming up…now." On three separate view screens, visual feeds from the courier ship and its two escort frigates were presented. On all three screens, the bridge crew watched as the scout ship drifted, almost lifeless, in space. Suddenly, like a heart being restarted with a defibrillator after suffering cardiac arrest, the alien scout ship jumped to life, energy readings being detected and relayed by the Imperial frigates.

"Courier ship is sending comm pings now, sir. Stand by for response." Silently, the bridge crew waited on bated breath. This might be their first contact with an unknown, and possibly powerful, alien race.

"Admiral, detecting more fluctuations behind that scoutship."

Onscreen, they watched as two more starships appeared from the ether. Unlike the scout ship, however, the two that just transitioned into normal space were much larger. The bodies of both ships assumed the shape of some exotic insect, with three bulbous growths located on the head and its dorsal side. They were both almost two kilometers in length, and approximately 900 meters in width. Their armor shone with a bright purple finish with black partings found in between the plates. Mounted on their black armor partings were weapon turrets.

_Alien warships_, Captain Pellaeon thought. There was no doubt about it.

"Is there any response to our hails, lieutenant?" Pellaeon asked. The comm officer checked his station before replying, "None, sir. We're hailing them again now –"

"Captain, detecting energy spike from alien ships. Weapon emplacements are now battle ready," the sensors officer noted. The two ships, which were lifeless in space just moments ago, were now moving for flanking positions beside the courier party.

Pellaeon eyed Admiral Thrawn sitting in the command chair. He was staring intently at the viewscreen, a strange glint in his eyes.

"Lieutenant, are the cloaked Interdictors in place?" he inquired. "Yes, Admiral," came the reply. "Very good. Tell the Interdictors' captains to activate their gravity well projectors. Send the order to the battle dreadnaughts to jump to hyperspace at the designated coordinates. For the frigates and courier ship, tell them to pull back and out of the enemy's flanking positions. Meanwhile, sound the alarm: all hands to battle stations."

As the bridge crew hastened to comply, Thrawn eyed Pellaeon with interest from the command chair. "It would seem, Captain, that our friends have no interest in making allies of us." "Did you expect this, Admiral?" Pellaeon asked. Thrawn looked back at the viewscreens, the image now being relayed showed how the alien assault ships were now caught in the middle of a triangle crossfire. "I anticipated the possibility." A strange expression passed before Thrawn's eyes, before being masked by the look of hidden menace. "Captain, you should be aware. Beyond this galaxy are a hundred different threats that endanger the existence of us all."

Pellaeon looked back at the screen. The enemy was now being systematically dismantled by Thrawn's attack force. Outnumbered three to one, with no room to maneuver our counterattack, the alien ships were slowly decimated by precise shots made by Thrawn's _Katana-_fleet dreadnaughts and two more Imperial Star Destroyers. "Prepare to jump to lightspeed, Captain and ready tractor beams. Spread the word that their scout ship is to be spared. I want prisoners to interrogate, if at all possible."


	2. Chapter 2

_A/N: Canonically, this isn't the next chapter to my story, but I thought I'd post this first, just to see how people would like it. Also, this was the only thing that came to mind when I forced myself to write a follow-up._

"Captain, we've detected more gravity fluctuations by the dark side of the planet's moon. Long-range sensors scan three more of their medium sized ships."

"Can you get me visual feed, lieutenant?" Pellaeon asked. The duty officer at the sensors station gave short, concise orders over the ship's local comm system. "Launching probes now, sir." "Negative, lieutenant," Thrawn commanded from the commanded chair. "Dispatch our four dreadnaughts with a _Lancer_ frigate escort to investigate. Have the feed relayed to us." "At once, Admiral," came the reply.

The battle between Thrawn's new empire and the _foreign_ humans had been going on for almost an hour now. Equipped with less sophisticated weaponry than their alien counterparts (the _Covenant_, as they called themselves), the _foreigners_ have proven to be much easier to defeat, especially since the sophistication of their tactics seem to outdate even their technology. Already, the space around them was littered with half-molten hulks from the invaders' ships, ships that Thrawn hadn't bothered to completely annihilate.

"Dreadnaught party is engaging the enemy now, Admiral. _Lancer_ is accelerating to meet their fighter squadrons." Pellaeon smiled tightly at the Admiral's prudence in sending out that _Lancer_-frigate. Ever since the battle at Yavin with the Rebels, the empire has been hard at work looking for solutions to the weakness most capital ships had to snubfighter tactics. Commonly known as "Trench Run Disease", capital ships suffer from this weakness when starships fly low and fast near their weapon emplacements, targeting and destroying vital systems that end up crippling the ship. The need to face this problem was answered by development of the _Lancer_-class frigate, a ship designed specifically to engage starfighter squadrons in way that make TRD-tactics useless.

The foreign humans knew that their ships' antiquated weapon systems could hardly match up to a direct engagement with their capital ships, so they normally opt to try techniques which avoid direct confrontation with Imperial forces. Thrawn, being Thrawn, anticipated them trying a TRD style attack on their battle group and countered with the use of the _Lancer_ frigate against their fighter squadrons.

"Bringing up visual now, Admiral." On the second tactical viewscreen, a scaled down version of the battle between the invaders' second wave and Thrawn's dreadnaught party was brought up. The _Lancer_ was still contending with the enemy's starfighter squadrons, methodically decimating each snubfighter with precise turbolaser shots. "Have dreadnaughts two and three pull back and target the enemy with ion cannon bursts, lieutenant. Cripple their weapons to give the other dreadnaughts an easy shot." Onscreen, Thrawn and Pellaeon watched as one of the enemy's analog frigates moved to engage the deceptively retreating dreadnaughts. Given an opening by the frigate's foolish maneuver, the remaining dreadnaughts were given an easy target on the frigate's defenseless ventral section. A few proton torpedoes and that ship was out of the fray. The remaining frigates were paralyzed by ion bursts before consequently being pulverized by turbolasers.

"Excellently done, Admiral," Pellaeon commented to Thrawn. "I believe the battle is won." "Yes, Captain. Send out the salvage crews and see if we can pull out records the invaders' wrecks. See if we can pick up battle reports or deployment records we can use to our advantage…" "Captain, we're picking up multiple signatures coming up from beyond the planet's equator. We count five…no…seven more enemy ships, five frigates and two cruiser-analogs."

"Call the dreadnaughts to pull back, lieutenant. Send a message to Captain Dorja to join us while we engage the enemy," Thrawn said.

Despite Pellaeon's grimace, Thrawn smiled thinly at the news. "I see our friends have picked up a few tricks in our dealings with them. How amusing, wouldn't you say so, Captain?"

"I don't understand, Admiral," came Pellaeon's perplexed reply.

"Well, they know that even with superior numbers, they cannot match us in firepower, so they decide to sneak up on us by luring us to a blind spot by the planet's moon with a feint."

Pellaeon nodded with understanding. "But Admiral, it does them no good to send ships out in these three waves. Why didn't they just begin with the feint and attack us full force with the second wave?"

"I suspect that this new group has a different commander, one with a different approach in tactics. Perhaps they are part of a different fleet deployment who simply answered a distress call sent by our enemies." Thrawn turned to the comm officer and signaled him to broadcast a message to their battle group. "All ships, reform around to reverse wedge formation, dreadnaughts to outer wings with Star Destroyers in the center."

Pellaeon carefully scrutinized the battle formation on the tactical holoprojector. A wedge formation was a useful tactic when it was used to break through enemy lines. A reverse-wedge was the opposite of that, presenting an opening in the battle group where the enemy can pass through for an attack. It was literally opening their armor and revealing their chest to give an enemy an easy shot to the heart. Yet… Pellaeon knew that there had to be a reason for this attack formation. Thrawn wasn't simply someone to give opportunities to his enemies if it didn't gain him an advantage.

"Sir, enemy ships have passed through the dreadnaught perimeter. We're taking fire." "All ships fire at will. Dreadnaughts, break formation and reform behind their starships. Once there, jam all their signals and resume firing." And with that command it became clear to Pellaeon. Thrawn initiated the reverse-wedge to tempt the enemy with an easy shot at their capital ships so that they could be trapped between the reformed dreadnaughts and Star Destroyers. A classic trick. "Scramble TIE fighters, Admiral?" Pellaeon asked. "Yes, Captain. Zonal attack pattern," Thrawn replied, amusement in his eyes.

An hour later, it was all over.

***

"Report, Captain." Thrawn said from his private command chair. "Minor damage to two of our dreadnaughts, Admiral. We've also suffered two starfighter losses, but otherwise our battle group was unharmed. Repairs are undergoing for the dreadnaughts already."

Thrawn nodded. "And were our salvagers able to anything important?" Pellaeon looked back at his datapad. "Our techs are still sifting through their records now, Admiral. So far all we've deciphered are past fleet deployments and records of previous engagements. We're hopeful of learning more from them."

"Very well, Captain. You are dismissed." Pellaeon shuffled his feet and prepared himself for the second part of his report, uneasy of what he had to deliver. "Admiral, there was another thing. The commander of the captured frigate we rescued is requesting an audience with you. She believes that she has something to say that you would like to hear." Thrawn cocked an eyebrow in amusement. "Really, now? She believes that she has something important for me to hear that she demanded my attention?"

Slowly, Thrawn stood up from his command throne, bright light spilling from sliding doorway as he walked with Pellaeon towards it. "Well, we should not keep her waiting, shall we?"

***

"Hello Commander, I am Grand Admiral Thrawn. Whom may I say I am addressing?"

"Keyes. Commander Keyes."

_Second A/N: I always hated how the commanders in Halo deployed their ships. Their plans always relied so much on luck and their enemy's stupidity I'm surprised the UNSC even managed to still have a fleet by the 1st Battle of Earth [and don't even get me started on that stupid tactic at the Battle of Sigma Octanus IV]. That alone should be enough indication that they would lose any war with the Star Wars Universe.  
_

_And how the hell did a _frigate_ ever become the flagship of a Fleet Admiral?_

_PS_

_To the people reading, stop saying that the reason a Fleet Admiral's flagship was a frigate because there were no other ships left. If you all remember correctly, capital ships (and the officers that command them) were being pulled back to defend the inner colonies. Unless, for some inexplicable reason, a Fleet Admiral was removed from his Supercarrier or Supercruiser and reassigned to a crappy frigate, it doesn't make sense that Hood's flagship was a frigate._

_PPS_

_Bonus points if you can identify the name of the tactic I used in this chapter. That means you are one of the rare breed of true SW fans.  
_


End file.
